News -Russians fire 24 times at Ukrainian people yesterday.Update - no dead, no injured. Slava Ukraini!

Weather -Wet. Bizarre weather for mid-January. 0 now. But it was +1 overnight. Most of the snow has melted. Forecast - anything. Many differ widely and wildly over what will happen over the next few days. Basically no normal weather patterns yet established. The usual high pressure system over Russia bringing cold winds from the east, has yet to establish itself.Update at 1400 - Odesa +6, Donetsk +5, Lviv +4, Kiev 0. January 13!!

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http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/01/13/7095197/Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 7:20Militants again used small arms, rocket launchers and heavy machine guns...Armed Forces Armed provocations against invaders committed in the area of ​​Pisky, Adeevka, south Avdeevki and near Novgorod, Zaitsev and Mayorska.For strongholds of forces near Trinity ATO that Yasinuvatska district of Donetsk region, the bandits continued to systematically beat with grenade grenades.Unrest was also in the Luhansk region. With automatic grenade launchers of heavy enemy opened fire toward the position near the Crimean Armed Forces and Trohizbenky.Since the early days of pro fighters again with small arms and grenade grenade fired in the direction of Novgorod, with heavy machine guns - south Avdeevki.During the night there were only quiet in the Mariupol direction.

http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/215496The SMM observed over 20 ceasefire violations involving the use of mortar, all in the wider area of Kominternove, but no ceasefire violations in the area of Donetsk airport. All ceasefire violations in Luhansk region were assessed as live-fire exercises. The Mission saw armed men in Kominternove and spoke to residents. The SMM followed up on casualties from alleged exchange of fire in Zaitseve on 9 January. The SMM followed up on tensions between religious communities in western Ukraine and monitored a peaceful commemoration in Odessa. ...===Quite a long report. In English.

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http://www.facenews.ua/articles/2016/303890/The arrival of Boris Gryzlov, a member of the tripartite contact group on the Donbas from Russia, had before him a few goals.First, find out how ready Kiev make the parliament vote for the second reading amendments to the Constitution to decentralize (those that on August 31 triggered the carnage under the Rada). Secondly, hint: if the changes are rejected, DNR / LNR ready to hold local elections on their own, Minsk-2 will be disrupted, and the state of "no war, no peace" - will continue.According to interlocutors, "Vesti", a two-hour tete-a-tete with Gryzlov Petro Poroshenko took place on Monday evening, when the President returned to the capital city of Ternopil, where, among other things, made an important statement: Ukraine insists on linking all steps Minsku- 2 in 2016 for specific dates....====I'm getting the impression that nobody really wants the Donbass now.For Putin it is a wasteland of Russian criminals, druggies, alcoholics. And "Soviet" babushkis. For Ukraine it would be a millstone around the country's neck. Special demands, autonomy, putting a brake on any meaningful development in Ukraine. Including closer ties to the EU, and the real world.

8:05http://kriminal.tv/news/predvoditeli_dnr_okonchatelno_zaputalisix.html... In Donetsk, expressed the need for "rapprochement with the EU," and for this purpose is calculated on the visits of foreign delegations. Such plans announced by leaders of "Republic" has already caused a lot of criticism from separatists . ...===Apparently some (3) right-wingers from Europe arriving today (fascists). What you get when an alcoholic failed electrician is put in charge of a Banana "republic" by Putin.

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https://www.charter97.org/ru/news/2016/1/13/186632/8:31He writes about this in his account on the social network "Facebook" People's Deputy of Ukraine Alexander Briginets."They say, Putin went to Syria, not only to distract the pack of jackals from defeat in Ukraine, but also to destabilize the region, to increase the price of oil.Anyway: "For the first time since June 2004 the price of Urals oil dropped below $ 30 per barrel, according to Thomson Reuters. At 20.15 MSK cost of a barrel of Russian Urals oil export stood at $ 29.2. ... "Let me remind you, in their budget oil at $ 50. So, now 20. Fight continue, jackals, "- he writes.

I've been thinking about buying some cross-country skis. It's a pleasant and healthy activity in the winter months. I enjoyed skiing in the US, when I lived close to the Canadian border. I've been thinking what skis to get - probably I am getting lazy, and likely to go waxless. I've had a look for second-hand stuff on Slando. I really want some wider, shorter skis, for fresh snow. Not trails. .. But then... I'm having second thoughts...

Is this really winter? December was amazing. I think almost every day was above average in terms of temperature. It snowed a little on December 01, but that snow had gone within a week. It snowed again on January 01, but that snow also soon disappeared. And now - again. The snow that fell a few days ago is slowly but surely melting. Yesterday the temperature in and around the capital was +3. And today perhaps +1. Further south, it is still warmer. There may be another dip in temperatures at the weekend, but then again - the forecast after does not look too bad.

This is not like the Ukraine I knew - even ten or fifteen years' ago. It is more like northern Scotland, I am told. (I have never been to Scotland, but still plan to visit one ...summer ) ) On the plus side - The government must be very very happy. Gas is heavily subsidised. So each day that goes by with the temperature above average is simply super. Reduced costs of snow removal, not to mention significantly lower gas demand. Last night was maybe 10 degrees C above average. Not one, not two, but ten. The roads are wet! Not covered with snow, but wet from the melting snow, and also the rain yesterday. How long can this continue for? The government must be hoping until the Spring. As for my cross-country skis - well - I will wait and see! Or perhaps move to Zakarpathia!

http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1452639620A delegation led by Jacques Clostermann, a French politician linked with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front and two lawyers - Josy Jean Bousquet and Hanen Maksud – are on a visit to the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic’. Their aim, according to Russian and Kremlin-backed militant sources, is “to gather cases of Ukrainian war crimes against residents of Donbas for the further circulation of such information among the public of France and Europe”. ...===There have been several reports recently that the French extreme right-wing are being funded by Putin. Say no more...i can't find much on Clostermann - a nobody. Son of a war pilot. And a twat. Russia 'bought' Marine Le Pen's support over Crimeahttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11515835/Russia-bought-Marine-Le-Pens-support-over-Crimea.htmlFrance's far-Right Front National accused of taking millions of pounds in loans from Russian bank as "reward" for backing Vladimir Putin on Crimea.

According to the Russia-based Levada Tsentr think tank, Stalin is becoming increasingly more popular among Russians. 34% of them, against 28% in 2007, believe that, no matter what Stalin’s crimes were, his major achievement was a victorious war against Germany, Radio Svoboda cites the poll.

Only 21% of the respondents, the lowest appraisal so far, believe that Stalin was a cruel and merciless ruler who destroyed millions of people.

The number of Russians justifying Stalin’s ruthlessness remains at 15%, as before.

Son of a Druzhkivka, the Donetsk region, businessman, Stanislav Tolstosheev, who killed a women on his Mercedes in Kyiv several days ago and states he has cardiac defect, leads a generally unhealthy lifestyle - smokes, drinks alcohol, and possibly takes drugs. At the moment he is said to be treated in one of Kyiv's private clinics, but can escape any moment.

Vladimir Putin has had the time and resources “to transform Russia if not into the next China then into a new Emirates by laying the foundations for economic growth over several decades,” Vladislav Inozemtsev says. But he didn’t do so and as a result, these years for Russia were and remain “lost.”

The Moscow economist says that “the country is being ruled by a man who talks a lot but does practically nothing concrete,” having relied “for more than a decade” on income from rising oil and gas prices. And how, he says, Putin can’t even come up with plans to stimulate business or inspire citizens.

Inozemtsev outlines the reasons for this damning conclusion in an essay on the RBC portal today, reasons that are especially compelling because most of them are not the opinions of this or that opposition commentator but rather are facts and figures published by the Russian government itself.

Putin has been in power for 16 years now, the economist says, and as a result, he and Russia enter his 17th year in even worse shape than anyone could have imagined. Average pay in Russia if converted into dollars is now at the level of 2005. GDP has been falling and will continue to fall. And 280 billion dollars of capital has fled abroad over the last three years.

The only thing going up is the military budget. It has increased in ruble terms by 7.5 times and in dollars by 4.4 times; and at the same time, “the bureaucracy has finally been converted into a ruling class with hundreds of new heraldic devices.” Russia now is involved in two wars, which have alienated its neighbors and led to sanctions from the major powers.

For most of his 16 years in power, Putin benefitted from rising oil and gas prices; but instead of using the earnings to transform Russia, he and his regime took the money for themselves and left Russia and the Russian people in even worse shape than many of them had been before he came to power. Now with oil prices falling, all that is becoming clear.

Russia is producing less gas now than it did in 1999, even though Qatar over the same period has increased its output by more than seven times. Two years ago, Rosneft bought TNK-BP for 55 billion US dollars, but now Rosneft itself is evaluated as being worth only “about 34 billion.

The only place where there has been any real growth as opposed to growth as a result of rising prices for raw materials has been in the non-state sectors. Under Putin, it has been the state rather than anything else that has been “the brake.”

Countries that experience a sudden burst in income either from rising world prices for their raw materials or because of increased production almost invariably invest in infrastructure, almost all countries that is except for Putin’s Russia, Inozemtsev points out. Over the last 16 years, Russia hasn’t put in place a single kilometer of contemporary high speed rail.

During the last two years, it has built 1200 kilometers of new roads annually, “four times less than was the case in 2000,” the first year of Putin’s power. In a similar war, Gazprom figures show that the country has managed to increase the level of gasification of Russian villages by 0.1 percent to 65.4 percent over the last 16 years...................

In this article for Human Rights in Ukraine, the information website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Halya Coynash recounts just some of the more blatant on Putin’s attacks on the truth. Jan 12, 2016:

There were multiple distortions in the interview given by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the German tabloid Bild. Some were simply absurd, like his denial that Russia’s actions in Crimea entailed a violation of international law. One was a downright and especially offensive lie. Putin claimed that “there was no shooting, no one was killed during the events in Crimea. Not one person.” Russian soldiers, whose presence he had long denied, were there, he alleged, only to stop Ukrainian soldiers “from interfering with the free expression of will by the residents of Crimea.” The latter had supposedly chosen to be part of Russia.

The Russian soldiers had in fact seized control before any ‘referendum’ was mentioned. Nor were they alone, with so-called ‘self-defence paramilitaries’ heavily supported and armed by Russia used to crush or remove opposition.

Even if we question the serious evidence that the 1999 Russian apartment bombings were organized by the FSB [security service] to bring Putin to power, the use of tanks and heavy artillery against a school with well over a thousand hostages in Beslan in 2004 were a clear reflection of the value place on human life under Putin’s regime.

The numbers of deaths and disappearances in Crimea are smaller, but each was a victim of Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukrainian Crimea.

39-year-old Crimean Tatar and father of three, Reshat Ametov was abducted by pro-Russian paramilitaries in March 2014 from his lone picket in protest at Russian occupation outside the Crimean parliament. His badly mutilated body was found almost two weeks later. Despite video footage of the abduction, no arrests have been made and his brother was told in January 2015 that the investigation had been terminated.

Ukrainian soldier Stanislav Karachevsky, who was married with two children, was murdered in cold blood on April 6, 2014. On March 13, 2015, a Crimean military court convicted Russian sergeant Yevgeny Zaitsev of killing Karachevsky in a hostel in Novofedorovka where the Ukrainian military personnel from the Saki military base in Crimea were living before being moved to mainland Ukraine. Zaitsev, who received a 2-year sentence, had never been taken into custody and had continued his military service as before the killing. Witnesses at the court said that Zaitsev was not under convoy guard, nor was he in handcuffs.

The following are just some of the civic activists or young Crimean Tatars who have disappeared without trace under Russian occupation.

Timur ShaimardanovTimur Shaimardanov was 33 when he disappeared on May 26 2014. A civic activist, he had been actively involved in peaceful protest against Russia’s annexation of Crimea and had been taking food and cigarettes to trapped Ukrainian soldiers.

33-year-old Seiran Zinedinov disappeared a week after Shairmardanov, on May 30. Contact with him was lost shortly after he left Shaimardanov’s relatives whom he had visited to discuss efforts to find him. At the time his father reported specific details about a car which had possibly been involved in his son’s abduction. They were even able to establish the exact location – a sanatorium near Yevpatoria - where Seiran’s phone had been switched off, though when they went to the place, the guards wouldn’t let them in......................

Member of the European Parliament from the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Michael Gahler claims that many measures needed for the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements could be quickly accomplished if Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered.

"In fact, many of the outstanding measures needed for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements could be quickly accomplished if Putin gave the necessary orders," he told UNIAN while commenting on Putin's recent interview with German newspaper Bild where the Russian president said that Ukraine would be able to retake its eastern border with Russia only after constitutional reform had been introduced.

"In the interview with German newspaper Bild the Russian president wrongly claimed that all outstanding measures needed for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements were exclusively Kyiv's obligations. But Russia is a party to the conflict. Russia occupies Ukrainian territory. Russia directs the marionette regimes of Donetsk and Luhansk," Gahler said...............

The ruling was passed to satisfy a claim filed by a Prosecutor General's Office investigator as part of criminal proceedings on charges of collusion between Yanukovych, Azarov, former Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov, ex-Chairman of the Board of telecoms giant Ukrtelecom Heorhiy Dzekon and director of ESU Ilia Solodovskyi.

The investigator established that from October 2010 to July 2013 the mentioned officials initiated the construction of a special-purpose telecoms network with the use of budget funds, causing the embezzlement of UAH 220 million in state funds. ESU LLC was engaged in the construction work.

According to the investigator, Yanukovych was registered with the Ukrainian Pension Fund's branch in Kyiv's Pechersk district on July 10, 2010, as a recipient of a pension assigned under the law of Ukraine on Member of Parliament status. His monthly pension was set at UAH 16,947, or $728 at the current forex rate. The amount of a pension assigned to Azarov since February 6, 2008, was UAH 17,253, or $742, per month............

"In the two months of voting for the most notorious cases of grand corruption, more than 11,300 people have voted at www.unmaskthecorrupt.org for ensuring that the corruption case of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych should be investigated by the best detectives in the world. He now ranks first, leaving behind Brazil's state-controlled oil giant Petrobras with 11,184 votes and Dominican Republic Senator Felix Bautista with 9,587 votes," the report says.......

"Over the past day the enemy's efforts focused on the strengthening of forward units in the Novoaidar, Sloviansk and Donetsk sectors, the concealed deployment of weapons and military hardware outlawed by the Minsk agreements in the Mariupol sector, and reconnaissance of ATO forces," the department said in a report posted on the ministry's website on Wednesday.

Information about the presence of weapons outlawed by the Minsk agreements - tanks, artillery systems with calibers larger than 100mm and the TOS-1 'Buratino' heavy flame-throwing system - in the area of Pervomaisk, Horlivka, Makiyivka, Donetsk, Michuryne and Bezimenne - was delivered to members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, the report said......

"Russia's position is that it is not ready to sign an agreement on the terms of Ukraine and our political position was previously announced: we cannot supply electricity, we have no grounds. And therefore talks about the price are inappropriate. At the moment there is no agreement, and accordingly we do not supply electricity," he told reporters.

He added that according to the information he has the situation in Crimea is partially stabilized by the energy bridge, imported generators and the reconstruction of thermal power plants, however "they will have problems for a year" until the energy bridge is launched........

In Moldova, a high probability of a coup initiated by pro-Russian forces, under the coordination of special services of the Russian Federation. Destabilization of the situation in Moldova could escalate to the emergence of regional centers of tension, which will also include part of the Odessa region. It is also possible attempt to destabilize the situation in Romania on the basis of ethnicity.

Power scenario in Moldova can actualize the issue of expediency of the Russian military contingent on the territory of Transnistria and to strengthen its presence.

January 12 at about 20:00 Foreign Minister of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, and later the KGB DMR issued a statement which drew the attention of residents of Transdniestria to the possible aggravation of the political situation in Moldova, as well as the expected increase in protest activity in Chisinau. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends to the citizens of PMR Transnistria in order to avoid possible incidents not to travel to the Republic of Moldova, as well as to participate in any public events related to the socio-political processes in Moldova. On the same day it reported the failure of a vote for the prime minister.

The next day the Platform «Demnitate şi Adevărul» announced its intention to resume protest actions on the Great National Assembly Square in continuous mode if the Democratic Party nominee for the post of prime minister will be approved.

January 12 the Socialist leader, pro-Russian politician Igor Dodon said that the establishment of a parliamentary majority does not carry any positive changes and stressed that his Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova intends to bring people into the streets and put pressure on the government in order to achieve early elections . Mass protests his party will be held under the slogan - "Moldova without oligarchs, without unionists Moldova!".

December 20, 2015 in Tiraspol arrived at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies George Menyailo "for the revitalization of the Dniester and Prut RISS Center." RISS under the leadership of Lieutenant-General of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Leonid Reshetnikov was one of the developers of the concept of annexation and occupation of Donbass Crimea. November 26, the Moldovan authorities deported another employee RISS Nikita Bondarev and Sergei Mokshantseva May 22, a sign of the presence of the Moldovan security bodies of evidence intelligence and subversive activities RISS.

Today, there are all the signs of preparation for the destabilization of the situation in Moldova, a coup, President Timofti displacement and initiate early elections in favor of pro-Russian forces. Statement by the Foreign Ministry and the KGB PMR about the possible destabilization of the situation in Chisinau can be explained by the fact that the Russian scenario, which is known in Tiraspol, not satisfied with the DMR leadership and threatens its interests. This is due to the fact that the business of the ruling forces in Transnistria is illegal and is entirely due to the special status of Transnistria. In the case of the coup and the creation of on the basis of Moldova's pro-Russian state with the weakening and strengthening of the role of Chisinau Tiraspol and Comrat, elite PMR will lose opportunities of the usual earnings.

The most likely concerns of Tiraspol is the power scenario, the probability is high, taking into account the number of weapons seized by the Moldovan law enforcement authorities in the autumn of 2014 with the arrests of members of the pro-Russian party Patria Mustached Renato, who is in Moscow. January 13 Renato mustachioed said in a video message that travels to Chisinau, which is a direct evidence of the radicalization of the critical situation in Chisinau. Mustached the decision to return to Moldova, where he can be arrested, influenced the decision to appoint the prime minister of the first vice-chairman of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc.

Vlad Plahotniuc

The nomination is likely to be crucial for the Kremlin and that its purpose is to launch the power scenario. Note that the mustachioed Renato has good political position in Gagauzia, which gives reason to anticipate the intensification of separatist movements in the area, which ultimately can affect and Ukraine.

Tiraspol may fear that the power of the Russian security scenario in Moldova will lead to the treatment of the Moldovan authorities for help to the official Bucharest. Thus, Tiraspol can get immediate presence of Romanian law enforcement agencies on the border. In addition, the negotiations that are currently in Tiraspol with the EU on the preservation of the trade regime, can be frozen, and the situation on the Ukrainian-Transnistrian border escalates.

Time for the radicalization of the situation in Moldova and Russia's attempts to oust Romania in the region chosen wisely. Warning almost all major regional players diverted to their own problems. EU, primarily Germany undergoing social and political crisis related to refugees; Turkey is faced with a terrorist attack; Ukraine is busy negotiating with Russia concerning the Donbass.

To prevent interference in the conflict of Romania, Bucharest is to be diverted to address the critical internal problems. These problems may be the activation of the Hungarian armed radical groups with links to Russia, on the territory of Romania.

January 2nd Edition Hungarian Hungarian Free Press published an article by Christopher Adam (part-time editor of the Hungarian newspaper Kanadai Magyar Hírlap) entitled "Do you plan to Hungarian extremists terrorist attacks in Romania?". The article notes that at the end of 2015, the Romanian authorities have arrested right-wing extremist organizations HVIMI on charges of plotting a bomb attack in the city of Kézdivásárhely national holiday in Romania Ziua Marii Uniri on 1 December. Hungarian nationalist group in Romania is closely linked with Russia, actively supported separatism in the east of Ukraine.

In the current situation of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies need to have the maximum attention Odessa, Odessa region, especially its southern part. Ukraine should be prepared for a possible attempt to transfer assault groups from the territory of the Russian Federation in Crimea Moldova / Transnistria. We have already noted that Russia considers destabilization in Moldova together with an attempt to destabilize the situation in the south of the Odessa region, which gives the Kremlin undoubted political, military-political, economic and logistical advantages for the further intensification of work in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, now there are lawsuits against the three officials who contributed to the annexation of the Crimea. With respect to their remanded in custody. This broadcast «112.ua» said lawmaker "Popular Front" George Logvinsky.

"I have more than one thousand. Applications have been filed over the past 4 months. Three people are in custody. Blame them to establish the court, now there are lawsuits, "- he said.

Logvinsky also said that 10 ships seized, 4 arrested for his statements. There arrests funds for the amount of about 4 billion UAH. This property judges traitors and others.

Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region detained militants "DNI", the press center of the SBU.

"A native Slavic region joined the terrorists in May 2014. Led by a group of armed insurgents on duty at checkpoints, controlled "public order" in the temporarily occupied territories, "- said in a statement.

During a search of the detainee seized two Kalashnikov assault rifle and a Makarov pistol, cartridges of various calibers, a homemade explosive device.

According to preliminary data firearms seized from militants, it was stolen in 2014 from the Slavic police department.